Seafarers’ charity provides support following death of burns victim

Seafarers’ charity Apostleship of the Sea (AoS) has been providing support to the wife and fellow crewmen of a seafarer who died after suffering severe burns in an engine room fire last week.
The 8,500 tonne vessel, the Mississippi Star, contained no cargo and had left Teesport en route to Antwerp, Belgium, when the fire broke out six miles off the Whitby coast, in Yorkshire, UK.
It was reported that there were 18 crew onboard. The injured seafarer, from the Philippines, was airlifted to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough to be treated before being sent to another hospital.
AoS stepped in to offer support and once the ship had docked again in Teesport, local port chaplain Tony McAvoy visited the ship to provide support to the crew. The ship was in a virtual ‘lockdown’ as an investigation into the fire had begun.
Meanwhile, one of AoS’s Filipino volunteer ship visitors met the injured seafarer’s wife as she flew in from the Philippines. Unfortunately, in the early hours of Sunday the seafarer passed away and in the following days the AoS team continued to provide practical and pastoral support to his wife.
Meanwhile the crew of the ship were not forgotten and at the request of the ship’s captain, AoS arranged for a Mass be celebrated onboard by a local priest. AoS was also on hand to support the crew when they were informed that one of their colleagues had passed away.
Source: Apostleship of the Sea (AoS)